The field of the invention is substrate processing.
When subjecting thin polymer substrates used in the fabrication of IC packages, printed circuit boards, and multi-chip modules to processing steps which raise the temperature of the substrates movement of the substrate material will frequently occur. Such movement can cause difficulty in positioning and aligning of components during processing.
As an example, in a polyimide film substrate having lased vias, the position of the vias may change when the film undergoes increases in temperature. Such increases and resultant changes are likely to occur when a conductive material is sputtered onto the film. Thus, particularly in regard to dielectric materials, which are to be subjected to sputtering and/or lamination, there is an ongoing need to improve processing to reduce the amount of material movement, which occurs during processing.
Methods and apparatus are provided which decrease the amount of movement likely to occur during processing of a substrate. In particular, a horizontally supported dielectric panel is subjected to a series of processing steps during which the panel is heated, cooled, or maintained at a fixed temperature so as to achieve a 2 to 1 reduction in material movement during subsequent processing. It is contemplated that application of the disclosed methods will be particularly beneficial when application is accomplished prior to laser drilling, sputtering, and laminating a substrate.
Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.